The list of uses for Microsoft’s Kinect motion controller seems to be growing daily, as we can now add to the list a therapy for those suffering from phantom limb pain syndrome. Researcher Benjamin Blundell and his team have set out to use the motion sensors in the Kinect to help amputee’s overcome the effects of the syndrome by retraining their brain to think that the limb is still there.

Phantom limb syndrome consists of a person feeling sensations from a limb they no longer possess. Many of these sensations are painful in nature, with patients reporting it feels like the missing limb is frozen in a distorted or painful position.

Traditionally, along with medication, this is treated through the use of a Ramachandran mirror-box. The patient puts their remaining limb, such as a hand, into one side of the box, then puts the arm that had its hand removed into the other side. When looking into the box, it looks like both hands are still there and it allows the patient to “trick” their minds into thinking they can control the phantom limb. This allows them to open and close their good hand, which relieves the pain since their mind thinks the missing hand is opening and closing.

Blundell and his group decided to try to bring a modern twist to the mirror-box idea by applying the same principles to a 3D environment using Kinect. In so doing, they can translate a patient’s movements to achieve the same relief using sensors attached to their good limb. The patient simply dons a 3D visor and external gyros, which are then translated into the “game” world. Just like the Ramachandran mirror-box, the software mirrors their good limb in place of a missing one which achieves the desired therapeutic effect.

The system is currently in early testing and just a research project. However, it has been accepted as a paper for GRAPP 2012, the international conference on computer graphics theory and applications. Hopefully it goes down well there and encourages Blundell to turn it into a real application for Kinect owners.